Le Petit Saigon — Restaurant in Victoria

TLDR: FALSE PRICES AND TERRIBLE SERVICE. PLEASE READ.

I came here in a group of 7 a few days ago at around 6:40. One of the waitresses warned us that our food would likely not come out all at the same time which was fine with us. We ordered and then we waited. A very long time passed and so I went up to another waitress with red hair and when I asked for an ETA, she immediately gave me attitude, saying that they were trying the best they could and that we ordered all at once so it would take a while. All I did was ask very nicely when our food would come.. 10 minutes went by and we had a ferry to catch so we asked to have our food packed to go. The waitress brings out the red haired lady again who gives me major attitude again by saying "Look, you guys all came in a group of 7 and we are short staffed. We're seriously trying our best". I understand when a restaurant is short staffed.. I'm a server myself. However, it is not our fault that you guys are short staffed and it is certainly no excuse to treat us poorly because you're frustrated. We were waiting nearly an HOUR for our food to come. And I asked nicely.

This was not all. We went up to pay and I paid for 1 spicy beef and meatball pho and 1 prawn curry. The QR menus we were given are the white menus below. However, when I paid for my portion, I realized that they charged us a couple dollars more per item so I went to the website and lo and behold, their menu with updated prices is there (orange menu). I realized this after I paid and we just didn't have the time to make a scene so we left it. But this is extremely wrong. You CANNOT show your customers past prices and charge updated prices. I can't even believe that this restaurant did that. The owner absolutely needs to do something about this.

The food was not bad. The pho was pretty oily and kinda sweet? But it tasted fine. The prawn curry smelled great but the flavor was a bit flat and also sweet. My main issue with the takeout though is the fact that they didn't use wide containers for the pho and instead used skinnier cylindrical containers which makes it really hard to eat. I tried my friend's spring rolls and those were amazing.

Overall though I was so disappointed with our experience at this restaurant. You need to hire more people so that people don't wait forever for their food and you also need to hire people with a better attitude. That red haired waitress seriously needs to learn to chill out and not assume that customers are attacking her whenever we ask for an ETA for the food. And lastly + most importantly, UPDATE YOUR QR CODE MENUS.

Safe to say I'm never coming back here again. Hope the owner sees...

Sparknotes: Despite arriving well before closing, we were turned away by a hostess who claimed no available seats, later denied takeout due to alleged kitchen closure, and received dismissive service, leaving us disappointed and questioning the establishment's professionalism.

For those who want the full story: My experience at this restaurant left much to be desired. Despite arriving 40 minutes before the kitchen closed, we were met with a disappointing reception from the hostess. She asked us what time it was. Upon informing her of the time, she claimed there were no available seats despite the presence of numerous empty tables. This initial encounter set a negative tone for our dining experience, leaving us feeling unwelcome.

We returned shortly after, before the kitchen's closing time given to us by the first hostess, hoping to secure takeout. However, we were met with further frustration as the second hostess informed us that the kitchen had already closed. When we mentioned the discrepancy in the information provided by the first hostess, her response was dismissive, defensive, and borderline rude, stating, "If you want to wait a super long time while we push out everyone else's order, you probably could." She went on to mention they were short-staffed.

Being short-staffed is a perfectly acceptable reason not to seat us, and I understand why that may have led to some stress for the waitstaff. However, the lack of transparency, consistency, and respectful communication not only tainted our impression of the restaurant but also left us questioning the professionalism and customer service standards upheld...

on the Tuesday Sept 17 2019. we are 8 of us just driving from Calgary to Victoria around 10:20am. we did not see the hour on google so we decided to come and check the restaurant out if it was opened or not. we was standing in front of the door to see the time then there was a young girl came out and put the signage inside then pull the door very strong to close it in front of us and her face was very irritated just like we did something wrong. then we decided to walk around to wait until they open. we came back again at 10:58am because outside was having rain. we was about to ask her if we can step inside the restaurant and wait for 2 minutes until the time it opens. however, what we received was rude attitude towards my friends. she was yelling at us from inside saying they not open yet and we have to wait outside until it open and she did not let my friends explain anything. we thought it was a great restaurant so we decided to go around in the cold for 40 mins and what we got back was rude attitude and it is our first time first day in Victoria. this review is to help the restaurant improve the service especially the staff would be more friendly...